I understand exactly what you're saying. I was definitely a JP II admirer. His witness to the faith was decisive in my conversion to the Catholic Church.
I also admired Benedict while he was still Cardinal Ratzinger. I read the Ratzinger Report and Saltz der Erde while living in Germany. These two books also aided me in my conversion. JP II and "Ratzo" were my cup of tea, and I always saw them as men who were deeply sympathetic to my conservative outlook on everything.
With Pope Francis, I feel a bit alienated. I have accepted that I am simply not in the primary audience he addresses. That's not a tragedy or anything, and it seems that the Holy Spirit has chosen a new voice for a new time. I respect Francis as the Holy Father, but am also aware that he views secular affairs from a very different perspective than his predecessors. I fear that his off-the-cuff comments about economics, immigration, et al., come off as flippant, and are easily twisted into dangerous social tendencies in the contemporary world.
Although he has taught nothing heretical when his comments are read in context, one could wish that he were more prudent in his public utterances. In a world that will always bend a Pope's words to its own ends, one could wish that the Holy Father were more measured in his public comments, eg, his "Who am I to judge" comment regarding homosexuals, his "An atheist can go to Heaven" comment, etc.. I personally don't see how they help us evangelize, but then I now realize that I'm not in the primary audience anymore. I still wish he would make his comments less easy to misinterpret.
ishmac:
Even those comments were not fully cited. With regards to Homosexuals, he actually stated, if those seek Christ with good will, then who am I too judge.
With respect to atheist, I think in many ways, Francis realizes that in many Western Countries, we are now in a post-Christian culture, so those atheist that have never had family members expose or model Christ for them, we have to recognize the potential for “invincible ignorance” is a real possibility today.
I agree his off the cuff remarks can be misinterpreted and used by secular sources for their own means but the article linked actually shows the entire statements and in that context, there is nothing wrong with what he stated. In the future, I think we are going to need the Catholic press and blogs to give us the full measure of Pope Francis’s statements, secular sources twist everything Pope’s say to fit their agendas. When they want to misquote or not accurately quote a Pope to go after the Catholic Church, they do so, when they want to use the Pope to try to show that he supports something they want, they do so.
Whenever I see a secular source quoting Pope Francis, I attach a discount factor to it that would rival what I would for “junk bonds” and I go to Catholic sources that I trust to get the entire quote and context.